One of Canada’s best-known marijuana activists says she’s ready to make a leap into mainstream politics with the federal Liberal Party.

In a telephone interview, Jodie Emery was quick to note she has yet to file nomination papers, but she said it’s her understanding that she’s in the running for Vancouver East.

“They approached me,” she said. “I am officially a member of the Liberal Party of Canada and I have been asked to put my name in to take a shot at it.”

If she does receive the Liberal nomination for the election scheduled for October 2015, Emery conceded that she would stand little chance of defeating NDP MP Libby Davies, who has represented Vancouver East since 1997. Emery explained that her candidacy would instead serve to signal that the Liberals are serious about changing the way that Canada deals with cannabis.

“The Emerys are synonymous with marijuana legalization, so this would be like an endorsement,” she explained. “It would basically be to say, ‘The Liberals support legalization.’ ”

The entrepreneur and former candidate for the B.C. Green Party spoke to the Georgia Straight less than one month ahead of the scheduled release of her husband, Marc Emery, from Yazoo City Prison in Mississippi, where he’s serving the final month of a five-year sentence for selling cannabis seeds.